Feathers and Fur

I've been feeding the crows for a couple weeks now. I know that we have a great many of them around, and I am intrigued by them. They are very intelligent birds. I've read a lot of stories about them, and well, I just couldn't resist giving it a try.  I began to set out the peanuts, and they are gone in the morning, but I've never seen crows eating them. We also have squirrels and deer, raccoons, possums, rabbits, turkeys, foxes and coyotes. So...who knows? I was not sure how my little experiment was going to work out. 

Today we were priming the kitchen walls and the ceiling of the open area that is the kitchen and living room. The brush for getting the edges was no good, so Tim ran to Titusville to get another while I continued with the roller. 

The funny thing is that car had no sooner pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road when I began to hear the raucous sounds of crows. I got down from the scaffolding and went to the sliding door and there they were, at least ten of them, and they were having themselves a regular crow party. 

The timbered walls are draped in plastic to protect them from paint splatters, so I had to pull it back to look at them through the window. As soon as that plastic moved, all of them cawed loudly and lifted off simultaneously. It just made me laugh. They are definitely observant. 

Tim got back and we continued on, and we got the priming done. It was a big job and we worked all day. 

At the end of the day, I went out. Gaza and the kittens had been fed that morning, but I just wanted to see. I sat down on the ground and called her, and much to my surprise she came. She did a lot of darting and hissing and spitting. I stayed still and talked to her. She would come in to be petted, then hiss after two or three strokes and back off. Strangely though, she came back again and again, getting those pets before hissing and running off again. She is very nervous. She's also a very tiny cat, and probably not more than a year old herself, if that. At one point she did hiss and swat at my hand, claws out. I told her no, and set my hand in my lap. She lay down a couple feet from me, and stretched out lazily in the evening sun, grooming herself. 

We probably spent 20 minutes together and that's progress, I suppose. 

She is being very aggressive with her kittens. She will run them off. I've begun to feed them outside the garage while she continues to eat inside. I wonder if all mother cats do this. I only had one cat that had kittens, but she was tame. I've never been able to handle any of these kittens. I don't know if I ever will. One thing about the kittens though...now that mama has abandoned them, at least Mini is keeping a close eye on me, meowing at me when I spoke to her today. 

The funniest part is we briefly ducked out and then returned. When we pulled back in the yard, there was a might cawing and once again, a black cloud of crows raised up to the trees.